Sunday, March 23, 2008

White shoes before Easter

I was sitting in the cafeteria my freshman year of college. A friend of mine walked through the cafeteria, dressed for some sort of honor student something-or-other (she was a double-major Academy gal - ya' know, like ME! heh!). Friend sitting next to me sneers and says, "Check her out! Can you believe she's wearing white pumps before Easter? I would think that she would know better."

I buried my head back in my bowl of whatever, and kept my trap shut. As soon as I could get to a phone, I called up my mom to find out what the hey diddle this chic was talking about.

Mom was able to tell me, but it was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing. You see, I usually just had one or two pair of dress shoes. You wore ... well ... the shoes you had! You made sure they matched what you were wearing, and you made sure what you were wearing would be comfortable in the current weather conditions. That made sense. White shoes only after Easter? Huh? What if it was 90 degrees in January (which happens all the time in Texas!)?

Today, as I sat next to the sweetest little girl in the world, wearing her comfy pink cardigan and worn tennis shoes and undies hanging out the back of her too big jeans ... all I could think was that I hope no one ever tells her that she is socially acceptable based on what she wears to church.

9 comments:

Well I was always told it was not before Easter and not after Labor Day. This is silly because hello... it is Texas... it is HOT and I wear sandals all year long. My daughter wears white or whatever color sandals until they don't fit anymore and then we get a pair of black "church" shoes and she wears them every week. Then we have a pair of tennis shoes. That is it. She wore black shoes today because that is what we have and they fit. OHH I'm sure it offended some old "christian" woman. :-)

This is a prayer request for those of you who pray...Christine, I go to church with Steve and Marcy Canfield from our HPU days... Marcy's grandmother passed away yesterday and her father in also expected to pass this week after battling cancer this year. Please remember this family in your prayers as they have heavy hearts right now.

Yup, no white shoes after Labor Day of before Easter, that's the way I learned it. But...I think we are missing the point here. I think the point is that if someone comes to church wearing a swimsuit, they should be able to worship their God without the condesending looks from others.

Now, with the hopes not to offend, I have to say that I was taught about 'church dress'. I was taught that it is respectful to dress for church. I was taught that God deserves our very best...from our tithes, to our church dress. God deserves for us to put on our very best for Him. After all, we put on our very best for a funeral or for a job interview, should we not for Him? I believe that we should make the effort to take one day out of the week and look our very best. I am not saying that we can't worship our Lord in jeans and a t-shirt, I am saying that we should respect God enough to look different on His day than on the day we went to the movie with our friends.

Now, I can already hear some of you screaming that some people don't have 'dress clothes' and can't afford to go get them. I know that...I get that! They will offer our Lord, their very best...whatever that may be...Most of us, however, have the clothes or have the means to get the clothes and choose not to. We choose not to make our appearance any more special on the Lord's Day than it is on any other day of the week.

I agree with Cammie. But at the same time, whatever someone shows up in for church, we shouldn't treat anyone better or worse because of it. It's really about me giving MY best, not judging others, of course. But you all get that, I'm sure!

Isn't every day God's day? Why should we dress differently on Sundays just because we go to church? Most Sundays I'm in jeans and some shirt, whether it be a t-shirt or a dress shirt. On Easter I wore Jeans; I don't feel the need to dress up for God. Often on the Sunday's I do dress up I am more concerned with how I look than what God is trying to tell me.

As for shoes...I wear whatever I want, whenever I want no matter what day or what season. That includes my shoes. Which most of the time are either black flip flops or sneakers.

The truth is that people will judge each of us on our appearance, including that wonderful girl that is so beloved by her mom. This can be really yucky, but it can also be pretty cool. The way you dress can express your personality, your values, your creativity. Your clothing can help you fit in or alienate you. Your clothing can identify who you are, what you are about, and with whom you belong. That's how you know which one is the hooker and which one is the amish woman! If our clothing causes discomfort or distraction for others, particularly in church, perhaps we have a responsibility to make a change. As far as Jesus wearing white shoes before Easter...No Way!! Men that wear white shoes are kinda creepy unless they are your Grandpa (or even great-grandpa). I just don't think Jesus would be that creepy. This is of course excluding athletic footwear, which I believe is acceptable at any time of year!

crap i write about

years of drivel

"My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours.
Maybe nothing is more important than that we keep track, you and I,of these stories of who we are and where we have come from and the people we have met along the way because it is precisely through these stories, in all their particularity, as I have long believed and often said, that God makes himself known to each of us most powerfully and personally."